On your side
by lexet
Summary: Nelly, a dedicated and hard working college student and psychology nerd, finds herself in a dilemma when her car breaks down in the middle of nowhere. And with her luck, a homicidal maniac decides to give her a hand when I need. Jeff the KillerXOC
1. You found me

**Hi guys! This is my first fanfic and based off of a RP I've been having. Please go easy on me!^^**

"Aw, c'mon!" The girl cursed, kicking the rim of her car. She was standing on the edge of a narrow one-way road, that ran through the middle of an evergreen forest. It was a cold October night, icy winds playing with the girls hair. And if that wasn't enough, the front of her car was seeping smoke, caused by a failed engine. It was really not her day.

The woods were a calming, quiet place. That's why Jeff liked them so much. It was a nice spot to visit if one needed to get away from the city's buzz and think for a while, and Jeff didn't take too kindly when other people interrupted that peace.

But his luck wasn't on his good side this night, so it seemed. Hearing the distressed voice, he observed the girl from the side of the road, clutching the knife on his pocket tightly. He was quietly meditating as he decided whether he should help her and get her out of his way, or just kill her and get it over with.

The girl angrily pulled out her cheap flip-phone, yelling every curse she knew in her vocabulary when she had no bars. "Just fan-freaking-tastic!" She sighed, leaning against the useless car. From as far as he could tell, she wasn't very tall, only bout 5'1". Age wise she seemed no older than nineteen. She was probably a still in high school or freshmen college student of some sort.

The killer shrugged. Eh, fuck it: He'll just play it along.

Pulling his hoodie over his head and arranging his hair so that his face wasn't very visible, he got out of his hiding spot and started walking towards her, raising one of his hands to catch her eye.

"Hey, kid, need a hand?"

Flinching at the sudden voice, the girl lifted her face to look a him, not expecting another person to just randomly pop out of the woods that was in the middle of literal nowhere. "Unless you're a auto mechanic or a tow-truck driver, probably not…" She said, looking at him carefully. She was suspicious about this guy, but what threw her off most is that she couldn't see his face.

Jeff shrugged, discretely looking the girl up and down: Young, not big, didn't really seem strong - probably didn't know much about fighting. Killing her would be easy. Almost too easy. Pitifully easy. What was the point? She wasn't even going to put up a fight. Might as well try to get something out of her.

"I may not drive a toe truck, but I do have a car parked not too far away from here" He said, pointing further down the road "I'll get you out of here... for the right price."

She looked at him carefully, sighing before crossing her arms. "Listen, I have a "every-day-ramen" type of budget… I don't have a penny on me. So if you want to help, fine. But I have no money." The sad thing was that she was telling him the complete truth.

Once again, he shrugged, realizing he wasn't going to get much from the girl. "Though luck. Have a good one getting back home". He turned around. He was completely ready to leave the girl behind him and go back to enjoying his peace and quiet.

She thought for a moment, before walking after him. "Wait."

He stopped for a brief second, not turning around, just waiting for the girl to go on.

When he stopped, she went to go to her car quickly, and came back just as fast. She held out a book to him, one that looked new, and smelled the way freshly printed books did. The title said "Visual perceptions". Small writing underneath the title said "The psychological studies of how art effects society". The authors name on the cover was Danella Rogerson.

He looked at her perplexed and then back at the book. He snatched it away from her, eyeing it for a minute before asking: "What the hell is this shit?"

"Well.. er...book I wrote... It's was my graduation project... for my masters degree. " she trailed off, scratching behind her neck. " I don't know, thought you might like to read. That's the only thing beside money I would consider valuable..."

The killer looked down at the book, then back at her, then back at the book again.

Damn, this girl sure needed a ride. Was he really going to charge her just for what would otherwise be a small favor?He let out a long, fairly loud groan, terribly conscious of what he had to do now, before shoving the book back at the girl and turning around to continue his path.

"The car is this way. Bring whatever you need with you. You don't know how long it'll take you to get back here?"

She blinked, surprised he actually agreed to taking her home, and nodded. "Thanks…" She went back to her car to grab a bag and threw some books in there before returning back to him. Looking at her, not looking any older than 19, it seemed odd to have already almost graduated from college. She pushed her hair behind her ear, managing it enough to stop it from flying in her face.

Jeff didn't reply at all, just following his path through the woods and hoping the girl would be smart enough to trail behind him. It wasn't until after a couple of minutes of walking that he said anything:

"So, what are you doing here to begin with? It's pretty far off from everything, and not very safe, either."

"Evening classes… I use the back road here to get home without the nasty traffic we have in the city. " she said. She squinted her eyes in the darkness, using his white hoodie as a mark to follow. She was curious. "Why were you here?"

He thought about possible excuses for a minute before deciding that, for once, he had nothing to hide. After all, he had only come to the woods for a break. That didn't sound too suspicious, right?

"Just came here to get away from the city for a while. It's pretty damn noisy in there. Nice to get away from it all sometimes."

She nodded in agreement, even if he was walking in front of her and couldn't see. She hated cities, well, not cities in particular. She didn't like crowds of people, or actually just people in general. "I use to live in the city… back when I lived in Seattle." she said.

He wasn't much for chit-chat. Or conversation. Or human interaction in general. Still, he guessed he could tolerate the girl until they parted ways. After all, he was aware of the implications of having to drive the girl home. Trying to apparent normalcy was only one of them.

"Seattle. What brought you here?"

"My great aunt died a couple of years back, and my folks inherited her home… They didn't want it, and I certainly didn't want the opportunity for me getting out of that damn place slip. So, when I graduated school, I came here." She said, kicking a rock in front of her, her hands buried in her jacket pockets. "So, now I have a hundred acres of land outside of the city, and a fairly well kept house centering it all. All for free." She was glad she moved here. She learned that being alone was best for her the hard way.

Now, that sounded a bit more interesting. A young girl with a fairly big property under her name, most of which was unoccupied? Staying on her good side didn't sound like a bad idea at all.

"That sounds pretty cool. Must be great having so much space all for yourself and all."

"I guess." she said, walking next to him at this point. "Sometimes when I take off of work for a week and don't have classes, it's weird being there all alone… Not in a bad way though. It's like I'm the only person left in the world. Like some explosive apocalypse happened, and I was the only one who survived. Puts me at peace, in some odd way…" She stopped herself there, chuckling at her own words when she noticed she trailed off a little about the topic. "Sorry, you must think I'm nuts at this point…"

"Nah, I totally get it. Sometimes it's nice to think you won't have to deal with other people's bullshit anymore, isn't it?" Of course, by sometimes, he meant constantly. He didn't exactly enjoy company, specially considering how that company was (more often than not) trying to kill him. "Wish I could do that sometimes, but my place is kinda cluttered."

She looked over at him and wondered what he looked like. "Say… why are you wearing your hood up?" She could see a couple of dark strands of hair coming loose from his hood, but that was about it.

He just shrugged as an answer, attempting to appear non-chalant in order to not raise suspicion. "I just like to have it on, that's all. The car's not too far away now, just a couple of minutes."

She gave a nod, still wondering though… She didn't say anything until they got to the car.

The car wasn't so much a car as an old, beaten up pick-up truck, which had clearly seen brighter days a long time ago. Although it had recently received a new layer of paint, a good chunk of it had already been scratched off, and the front bumper was beaten up and bent out of shape.

"It's not the best, but it's what we've got" He chuckled "Jump in."

"As long as it drives, right?" She smiled, opening the passenger door and buckled up. Her car didn't look in the best shape ether, so who was she to complain.

"Yeah, don't worry about that. This thing is rock solid. It can handle some rough handling." He slapped the hood of the car a couple of times, as if to emphasize the point, before climbing on. He buckled up, started up the engine and got the vehicle moving in no time.

She leaned into her seat when they started driving, the low rumbling of the engine and the heater comforting her. She looked over to him again. She should thank him somehow… he was bringing her home, expecting nothing in return after all. Her thoughts wondered, thinking of ways to repay him, but ended up staring at him unintentionally.

He wasn't paying much attention to her, mostly focusing on the road ahead, but it only took him a couple of brief side glances to confirm that the feeling of being watched wasn't just in his imagination.

"Like what you see?" Asked the killer, his tone a bit more menacing than intended. "What'cha looking at?"

She snapped out of her thoughts. Noticing she has been starring, she quickly looked forward, her freckled cheeks reddening from embarrassment. "..I-i… ah.. nothing… I was just lost in thoughts… that's all." She paused to think about what he said. "Besides, don't flatter yourself. It's not like I can see you with your hood on and all."

He just chuckled a bit as a response, immediately turning his attention back towards the road. "Don't worry about it, I don't mind you looking. And there ain't much to see anyways, at least nothing you couldn't see anywhere else."

During the drive she pointed out to him where to turn. It was hard to see the cheap non-reflecting road signs in the dark. When they got close, they could see a large house, four floors high at the least, off the edge of the forest. It seemed abandoned for years. The Paint on the house was faded, the waterspout and other metallic objects covered in rust and the grass hasn't been cut in ages. Weeds and Ivy grew around the house, engulfing it on some areas. A dirt path lead them to the front of her house. There were no other houses in sight, or any sign of life for that matter.

Jeff examined the house carefully, trying to take it all in: The place looked abandoned, like it hadn't been given properly taken care of for decades and it was hard to believe that anyone (specially a young girl such as the one he was driving) could live here."Ya sure this is your house, buddy? This looks more like a crack house than an actual home..." Said the killer, completely oblivious to his lack of tact.

"Yeah, I didn't get the chance to fix it up from the outside… not that I could afford it anyways." She said, not taking any offense to what he said. "It looks better on the inside, though." She grabbed her bag and stopped to think for a moment. "Would you like to come in?" She asked, looking at him. She was then afraid it sounded to out-of-place and then added: "For a drink?" That was the only thing she could think of as a valid re-payment for his hospitality at that moment.

He hesitated for a moment, a little taken aback by her offer - he was expecting to just give her a ride home and get it over with. Then again, maybe declining her offer would come off as strange.

"Perhaps some other time?" He replied, in avertedly reaching for his hoodie and pulling it forward a bit "I'm not exactly decent right now."

She looked at him for a moment, before grabbing a notepad and a pen and started scribbling something down. "Here. These are the days I'm off this month and my number." She ripped the paper out, holding it out to him. There were only three days in the entire month she had time. Though she seemed extremely busy, she hated loose ends with the people who actually do help her. She felt like she owed him, and it was going to bug her if she wouldn't at least invite him for a drink or even dinner. "By the way, my name is Danella… you can call me Nelly for short"

He hesitantly took the note, nodding at the girl as a sign of acknowledgement before storing it on his pocket. He wasn't too sure under which circumstances they would be meeting again, but it only seemed logical to keep her number around... just in case.

"Nelly, huh? You can call me Jeff. I'll be calling you soon enough, alright?"

She gave a faint smile, before getting opening the door and hoping out. She hesitated. "Oh… thanks again." She then closed the door of his car and went into her home.

He returned the smile for a second, before realizing she probably couldn't see it, and proceeded to press the gas and drove away, leaving the small house in the woods behind.


	2. You had a gun

**Hi guys! I'm going to try and update every other day or even more frequently! Please let me know what you think of the sotory so far!**

Jeff fidgeted around with his phone, nervously. He knew how bad his situation was and that he needed a safe place to stay for the time being. He also knew who could provide him with that place, but wasn't completely certain they would agree to that. It wasn't that he was afraid of her opinion on him, but more so the fact that if things went wrong, she would probably turn on him. That would mean another death, another body and another track to cover. He wasn't sure he could take that right now.

Trying his damn best to cast those fears away, he took a deep breath and dialed up the number. This was it. All or nothing.

"Hey, Nelly? It's Jeff. Would you mind meeting me later today? I need a favor."

Danella picked up the phone with a groan, the ring waking her. She held it tiredly to her ear rubbing her eyes. The room was dim, sunlight peeking through her blinds. "…Jeff..? Oh, yeah.. I remember…" She tried comprehending the rest he said. He sounded urgent. She looked at the clock. 11 am. Thank goodness he called her on a holiday. "um… sure…wanna come to my place? My car is trashed for sure."

"Yeah, yeah, that would actually work out well for me" His reply came nervous, slightly agitated "I'll be dropping by soon. Give me twenty minutes."

She sat up and opened the blinds of her window to let in the light. "Um…sure…" she replied a little confused. She didn't question it though. He would have plenty of time to explain when would come to visit.

Not more than half an hour later, Jeff's truck was pulling up by Nelly's driveway, the man dressed with the exact same hoodie she had seen him with a couple of days before.

He was still wearing that hood, huh? She was sitting on the bench placed on her porch, her dirty blond hair tied into a messy bun, wearing a tank-top and sweats as if she has just crawled out of bed, what she technically did after all. She held a mug of coffee, sipping on it before giving Jeff a simple wave.

He got out of the car, returning her wave but moving away from the house instead of towards it, and waving her over as an indication to follow him. That way, if things got ugly, at least she wouldn't be able to run away from him...

She stood, and followed him, taking her coffee with her. "Everything alright..?" She asked, following close behind him. "You seemed nervous over the phone.."

He shoved his hands into his jacket's pockets, making sure the revolver was still there where he had put it, before answering. "I am kinda nervous. Things haven't been going well for me. And I need to ask you for a pretty big favor, but before I do... Well..."

He took in a deep breath, reaching for the hood that covered his face. "I gotta tell you a little secret."

She stopped behind him, wondering what he was going to tell her. "…Go at it."

He breathed deeply again. This wasn't going to be easy.

"You have to promise me that, no matter what, you'll give me time to explain."

She narrowed her eyes, taking another sip of her coffee. He didn't do anything bad, did he? "Sure, I promise."

He let out a short, dry chuckle. "Alright, here goes nothing."

Slowly, he pulled down his hoodie and turned around, revealing his face: The white, leathery skin; the black, eyelid-less eyes and his mouth, which had some sort of weird scars running across it.

She just stood there, frozen. Her eyes were wide and glued on him, the sound of the shattering porcelain of her mug that slipped from her fingers made her jump a little. She took a step back, trying to regulate her breathing. What the hell happened to him?\

...Wait a second.

He didn't say anything, just waiting for her to process the information and even taking a couple of steps back to give her a bit of space. After all, he didn't need to be in close range to nail a shot.

She and swallowed, even though her mouth was dry. "…it's you… isn't it?" her voice seemed hoarse. " …the guy who killed over a dozen of people in the city…" She read the description of witnesses in the local papers, and they all followed back to Jeff; The man who helped her just a few weeks before.

He opened his mouth to talk, but the words wouldn't come out. What could he say? There wasn't much he could do to defend himself. Hell, as far as he was concerned, he didn't have to defend himself. And it looked like things weren't getting any brighter anytime soon.

"... I need your help."

He didn't deny it. This was bad.

She still stared at him, not sure how to answer. Nelly was with no doubt wise beyond her years, but nothing could prepare her for this. She did know what _not _to do though. Scream or run. It would only irritate him and the last thing she wanted to do was irritate a homicidal maniac. So she let her choice of words, as simply as they were, run through her head a dozen times , just to make sure not to say the wrong thing. "… Go on."

Alright, she was willing to listen to his dilemma: That was something. Now, getting her to try and help her instead of shunning him away... That would be harder. Specially considering the odds weren't exactly stacked on his favor. After all, who on their right mind would try to help a serial killer?

"I can't go back home" He began, trying to explain his situation "Some guys from an old gang I used to work with found it. They're looking for me because of some dumb shit I did when I was a child. I have nowhere else to run. I need your help."

She processed the words in her mind, staring off into space for a few seconds. She wasn't exactly fight material, which he could have guessed by probably just looking at her. She would be an easy kill. Rejecting him would only backfire on her. That was clear.

It wasn't about wanting or not wanting to help him. Morals had no place in this situation. It was about staying alive. She looked a him and then down, nodding slowly. ".. Okay..." Her voice croaked, making it sound more pathetic than she intended.

It took him a couple of seconds to process what had just happened: She was... agreeing? Agreeing to host him? A _serial killer_? That... He didn't know whether to laugh or cry. So instead, he settled for neither, just giving her a nod and pulling his hands out of his pockets, glad that he wouldn't have to use his gun.

"Thanks. I owe you" He scratched the back of his head "I know this is weird, but you'll be safe. I just gotta stay here for a couple of day and then I'll look for somewhere else to stay."

Nelly gave a nod, not bothering to pick up the remains of her cup, and went to walk to back to her house. She felt unsafe. Oh, so very unsafe. Especially because he was facing her back. And he said that she will be safe. He didn't give her any reason not to trust him, right? He did bring her home, expecting no payment in return. Besides… he said just a few days. "I'll show you the house…"

He nodded again, following behind her at a respectful distance. She obviously didn't trust him - which was actually a very smart move on her part, seeing how she had every reason not to. And perhaps that was for the best. He was here because he needed a roof, not a friend.

As they approached the house, Jeff reached into the back of his pick-up and grabbed a hold of a small backpack. "Let's go."

She opened the door, and first then she noticed how much her hands have been shaking. The first floor looked fairly normal and was kept clean. It had the furniture style and wallpapers from what was modern back in the 40's. Nelly hadn't bothered changing it. There was a spiral staircase at the end of the hall, which she headed for. "There are three floors…" she began, going up the steps and waiting for him to follow. "Or technically four, if you count the attic. Dining room and kitchen are on the first floor, bedrooms and living room are on the second. The third floor is my working space… for the most part." She stopped at the second floor, looking inside the rooms to find an available bed. "Here's one." she said, opening the door wide. There was a regular bed with fresh sheets folded on the top, and a desk with a chair in the corner. That was literally it. "My rooms over there." She pointed at a specific door across the hall. "Hope it'll do.." she then took a couple of steps back, avoiding to look at him.

He followed her across the house, listening to her directions intently so he wouldn't have to bother her later on with stupid questions. He noticed her efforts to stay marginally away from him and complied. He had already gotten this far, last thing he needed was to cause some sort of scene.

"It's good" He said, examining the room. "'Nuff room for me. I shouldn't be bothering you much. Hopefully, I'll just stay here, do my shit and you can have the rest of the home for yourself. How does that sound?"

"Do as you please… I'll be working upstairs, if you need me." She walked toward the staircase, but then stopped in front of it. "By the way, you should store that firearm in a safer place. Attached closely to your body in a holster of some sort, instead of the pocket of your hoodie." she then began walking up the stairs.

He stopped dead on his tracks, her sudden forwardness shocking him more than a bit - he had been concealing the gun fairly well. The girl had an eye for that sort of stuff. Watching her walk up the stairs, he couldn't think of much to say beyond "I will", before he shut the door to the room and started unpacking.


	3. Your good side

**Another upload! Please tell me what you guys think, or ask questions if you have any. Thanks for reading 3**

Nelly seemed to be non existent for what seemed for hours, working on whatever she was doing. It was already five in the afternoon, and she hasn't been downstairs once.

Suspicion was rising in him.

Of course he had agreed not to bother her, but... Well, he had his own reasons to be worried. The girl had agreed to host him, true, but he had no reason to believe she wouldn't sneak away and sell him out to the police. Besides, she shouldn't mind if he went to check on her once every couple of hours... Right?

Blah, not like it mattered anyways.

He climbed up the stairs, into her "studio", to see if maybe they could have a little chat.

Compared the the rest of her house, this area was completely out of hand! There were no halls or doors but just an extremely large room. one wall was completely made of window, thick books were stacked everywhere, thousands of papers ether filed in binders scattered across the floors. On one wall she had a bunch of pictures hung up with sticky notes of facts leading to another, as if she were solving some crime case. By another wall, Nelly was standing in front of a large marker board, holding a large book in one hand and writing on it with another. She was also wearing glasses, probably for reading.

It was certainly a jarring change of environment - he wasn't one to judge, but... Holy fuck was this weird.

Almost subconsciously, he walked forward and around the room, mostly interested in the variety of pictures hung across one of the walls, not really bothering to announce his presence.

He looked down at the various stacks of books and binders.

Most of the books were to psychology and human behavior. Others involved some history of the human moral, behaviors in society, human expression through forms of art and even sexual behavior. She didn't seem to notice him when he came upstairs, still scribbling on the board and going through the pages of her book.

He briefly glanced over them and picked some of them up. This stuff was clearly beyond his level. Made sense, since the girl had talked about writing a thesis on human behavior or something when they had first met. Eventually, his curiosity got the best of him and he found himself asking: "What's all this about?"

Nelly jumped, the books falling with a loud thump on the ground, and found herself staring at him. What the hell was he doing here?

"..oh… sorry." she mumbled, picking up her book and set it on on a stack. "I'm not use to company.." she adjusted her glasses, when she noticed him looking at her books and papers. "…it's my major… well, psychology is." She started cleaning up a few stacks of papers and notes. "It sometimes gets a little out of hand, as you can see… I find it to be more of a hobby at this point. And now it's crunch time since I'm about to get my masters degree…" she trailed off. She looked way to young to nearly have a that high of a academic education.

He kept looking around the room, his vision once again turning towards the wall covered in pictures and notes. That looked fairly interested. Surely she wouldn't mind if he showed a bit of interest?

"What about the pics?" He asked, analyzing them intently. "Looks pretty interesting. Trying to figure out who shot JFK or somethin'?"

"The first infamous serial killers from 1800 throughout 1980…" She said, watching him carefully. "… and how the backgrounds relate to each other, especially by the causing of their, as I like to call, transformation." she came a little closer, brushing her fingers over some of the sticky notes. "…Violation, depression, sexual abuse, harassment… leaving those untreated could lead to severe mental illness, suicide… and in these cases, murder… bringing some sort of satisfaction or sense of security. It's sad, really…"

He kept watching for a minute, not turning to glance at the girl even once... Mostly for fear of making her uneasy. This was a very odd hobby to have... Then again, who was he to judge? At least studying serial killers wasn't as bad as actually being one.

"Why have all of this here?" He asked after staring at the pictures for a second "Is it part of your major? Or just a hobby?"

She was surprised he was even interested.

She shrugged, looking around. "Both, I suppose… Serial killers aren't the only thing I study, I just find them to be particularly interesting. And even though I'm not particularly fond of people, I find the human mind to be incredibly fascinating." She smiled a little, completely in her element.

"The idea of that you could manipulate anyone on this planet, just by knowing enough on this subject I study. It's incredible." She looked at him and pointed out his hoodie. "I had no idea what was in your pocket. Until you constantly held your hand there." She looked him directly in the eye. "You seemed slightly at edge, but held a sense of peace according to your body language. You were worried of my reaction, but knew the few possible outcomes on the back of your hand. You were ready." she smiled a little. "I was right, wasn't I?"

For the first time since they had started talking, he looked at her, straight in the eye - he was impressed. It took him a couple of seconds to regain composure, giving the girl a brief smile before turning back towards the pictures. "You're smart. Really, really smart. It's kinda scary and I'm not sure if I like it, but I guess I'll just have to deal. Still, how did you know I wouldn't just... You know, shoot? I didn't, duh, but how did you know it wouldn't happen?"

"I didn't… but as far as my knowledge runs through homicidal killers, submission is the best, if not, only way of survival. So I didn't question you." She said, looking over the entire room. She chuckled, looking back at him. "Hope you are not too freak out by me…"

It was ironic. She was worried that he wasn't freaked out by _her_? Has she even looked at him?

Jeff let out a short chuckle, actually finding the situation kinda funny. Just earlier today, this girl had barely been able to so much as glance at him. Having a conversation about serial killers wasn't much progress, but... Hell, it was something, right? Besides, she was smart. He could use smart. She could be a powerful ally.

"You're kind of a creep" He joked "But I think I can take it. I mean, you ARE doing me a pretty big favor by letting me crash your place. A small price to pay, if you ask me."

He analyzed the wall a bit more, clearly looking for something.

"Am I here, somewhere?"

" Killers from 1800 throughout 1980." She repeated, giving him an odd glance, raising a brow. She looked at him again, finding his features oddly interesting.

Nelly wasn't shallow when it came to looks. In fact, she wouldn't talk to anyone beyond a sentence if they were bellow her tolerance level of stupidity. Even if it was the most attractive man in the world, she could care less. Jeff, she decided so far was on her better side. Even if he was a murderer, he wasn't as ignorant as most human she dealt with.

"Hey, forgive me for wanting to get a bit of recognition" He shrugged "Although I guess that's good, right? People don't know who I am, they don't know how to catch me. Gives me a bit more time..." His tone seemed to drop a bit at the end, along with his mood. For a second, he appeared hopeless, but it didn't take him long to recover, quickly turning towards the board the woman had been writing on. "What were you doodling over there?"

"Nothing significant." She said, picking up the book she dropped earlier. "At the moment I am studying multiple personalities. That's some crazy stuff, I tell ya." She put it back down, looking at him. "Are you hungry? I can cook something up downstairs…"

"Nah, don't sweat it" He responded, waving her off "I cook my own food. No offense, but I've had issues with other people cooking for me. But I wouldn't mind having you around. Looks like you've already worked a lot in here, anyways."

She placed her hands above her hips, giving a look around. "Yeah, I think I could use a break." She stacked some paperwork and marked a book page with a sticky note before heading to the staircase.

He was already ahead of her, moving towards the first floor and into the kitchen. "No offense, but your house looks pretty... old" He commented, as they walked past the dinning room "How long has it been here?"

Nelly thought, walking downstairs behind him. "..I think it was built in the twenties. That's at least what it said in the paperwork." She watched him carefully. She wondered what happened to him.

"It seems like it's kinda out of shape" He knocked on the wall, as if to make sure it wouldn't fall off under the smallest amount of pressure. It sounded solid... Enough. "Must be hard to keep a house in a place like this going."

"Well, hasn't fallen over yet." She chuckled, walking into the kitchen. She stopped, looking over at him before taking her glasses off. Allthough he looked completely freaky, Nelly didn't find his looks to be to bothersome. But that didn't mean she wasn't curious. "If you don't mind… what happened to you?"

The question seemed kinda abrupt to him - not that it mattered much. He had come to accept it: People were either scared of him or curious. And he definitively preferred the former, seeing how curious people's first reaction usually wasn't to try and kill him.

"Long story" He shrugged "To make things short: A bunch of shitheads thought I would make a good 'human torch' cosplayer and decided to cover me in bleach. That was 'bout five years ago. The eyes and scars on my mouth were... Accidents, of sorts."

She looked at him once more before smiling and opened a cabinets to find something edible. "I've seen worse." She got a bowl and a pack of cereal. "How old are you? … not be sound odd, but I can't tell if you're 15 or 30."

He chuckled lightly, moving besides her to find his own food. "Not even close. Twenty. How 'bout you? I'd say you're about nineteen or something?"

"Eighteen." She corrected, filling her bowl with the flakes. She then stopped, realizing how out of place her age sounded, since she was almost a masters graduate. "…I was a very mentally advanced child, and skipped a lot of classes." grabbed milk from the fridge and chuckled to herself. "I was in a second grade spelling bee competition when I was three."

"So you don't sound like a genius, you _are_ a genius" Replied the killer, opening the fridge to look for some ham and cheese. "Hell, I didn't even finish bloody high school. A master's degree sounds impossible."

She grabbed a spoon and sat on the counter, starting to eat her food. "hmm… you don't sound as retarded as the drop-out's I know."

He grabbed some bread, mayonnaise and mustard. "Y'know, you don't exactly make it out in the streets by yourself if you're just a dumb, dopey fourteen-year old. I had to learn quick. May not know much about psychology and shit, but I know enough to get around."

She shrugged. "Book smarts are overrated ..." She looked outside the window, munching on her food. She wondered how many he has killed.

He sat down at the table, his meal already prepared in front of him: Simple sandwich, done in a rush. He really wasn't feeling like putting much effort into anything at the moment.

"Maybe not so much" He pointed at her "You're book smart, and you're holding up pretty fucking well. Own house and everything. More than I had by eighteen. Hell, it's more than I have now!"

"I'm holding up because I have a job." She said. "People don't take you seriously before you have valid paperwork that proves your intelligence. And even then they don't accept you because your "too young" for their standards..."

He waved her off: "People are stupid. You shouldn't be trying to deal with them. Why not start your own thing? Show them what you've got".

"You're a psychologist, right? Start a clinic or something, I don't know. Why settle for what someone else gives you?" He took a big bite out of his sandwich, stuffing his mouth and swallowing before continuing "That certainly didn't work out for me. Other people only pretend they want you to succeed, but you can't trust 'em - you either deal by yourself or lay down and rot."

Her own clinic. She never thought of that.

Nelly looked at him for a long while, as if looking for answers in his body language. He seemed pretty down to earth for a homicidal freak. Not that she ever met one. She wondered what it took to set him off. She put her dishes in the sink next to her, swinging her legs while sitting on the counter. "How many people have you killed?" It was completely off topic and she asked it so out of the blue as if they were talking about the weather.

He didn't mind the question. The girl already knew too much. What did it matter?

"Too many to count" He stuffed the rest of the sandwich into his mouth "The media only knows about some of them, the ones I couldn't be bothered to clean up after. They don't know about the ones I wanted to keep secret or the ones I was hired for."

Once he was done, he got up and placed the dish in the same sink, starting it up and reaching for a sponge automatically. "Why ask? I thought it would freak you out."

"Because I can now rest assure you are not going to kill me." She said, smiling just a little.

He looked at her, arching a non-existent eyebrow. "I won't, but how could you know?"

"I didn't. But you pretty just gave me the answer." She said jumping of the counter, moving past him.

He stared at her for a second, smiling when the meaning of her words finally clicked. He got done scrubbing the dishes, following after her shortly thereafter.

"Nah, it would be a waste. You're valuable, too valuable to just throw away."

"Oh, objectifying me? How classy." she joked, walking back upstairs. Maybe having him stick around wouldn't be so bad after all.

"Call it what you want" He shrugged, a smile still on his face "But you're on my side now. You know what that means?"

His side, huh?

"That you're dragging me into a killing spree with you?" She joked again, walking down the second floor hall way to the living room.

"Nah, not... Yet." He was joking, of course. Dragging the poor girl along would've just hindered his performance during a killing, not to mention, he wasn't a big fan of sharing credit. "It _does _mean that I can't let anything happen to you from now on. And, in case you don't know, that's pretty fucking cool."

She looked over at him after entering the living room. It was a fairly big room. A large 90's box shaped TV rested on a table against the wall, and a chimney on the opposite wall. A large, worn leather couch was facing the TV. Nelly sat on the couch, still looking at him.

"What are you now, my guardian angel?" She asked. He wouldn't let anything happen to her, huh? Hearing that from a serial killer seemed purely ironic.

Once again, he shrugged, not very committed to his answer. "That's one way to put it, but you'd be downplaying me a bunch. I'm pretty fucking good at what I do."

He examined the room, sitting down on the couch besides her. "Nice place. Your folks had a good taste."

"First you call it a crack house, then old, and now nice? Why the change in nature?" She was interested in what he meant by "not letting anything happen to her". He just barely knew her, and was already so committed to her safety? The didn't want to force the topic on though and instead turned the TV on.

"Hey, you said it yourself - it looks better on the inside. Maybe I just lowered my expectations, I don't know."

She looked at the time on her phone. 6:30 pm. "... I think I'm going to go take a shower." She then stood up from the couch, stretching by raising her arms high. "You wanna watch a movie or something while I'm gone?"

He thought about it for a second, blankly staring at the TV before replying: "Do you have another bathroom? I guess I should take a shower too."

"Um, yeah there's one on the first floor... It's the first door to your right when you go downstairs. Fresh towels should be beneath the sink." She said before going into the bathroom upstairs.

He didn't wait for any other indication. He stood up and went straight for the bathroom. It had been a long day, it would be nice to get some time to relax.


	4. You cared

**Hi Again! I just wanted to say thanks to all of you who have been viewing and following my story! It means allot to me!**

The next day, Nelly was up early at 6:00am, packing her bag in the kitchen. She tried staying quiet, not to wake Jeff.

Her efforts didn't do much for Jeff: He had been away since about five in the morning, his backpack already prepared and ready to go. He was afraid Danella would catch him if he went through the main door, so he locked his bedroom's door and snuck out the window. Just to make sure she wouldn't be surprised by his sudden departure.

He shouldn't take too long, anyways.

It was only going to be an average hunt.

Nelly didn't notice his disappearance, and flung the bag onto her shoulders and went outside the front. She grabbed a bike out of the small shelter by her house.

About five hours later, Jeff was back in Nelly's home. His hands and face were stained with blood, but at least he had accomplished his mission. It had been a long time, after all - he needed to unload. Specially considering that he had to keep his anger at bay now, seeing how he was sharing a house with someone else.

Making sure there were no signs of Nelly, Jeff snuck into the house and washed himself, trying to erase all hints of the morning's events.

Nelly came back around four in the afternoon, closing the door behind her. She took off her work hat, hanging it on the coat hanger. Without hesitation, she immediately went upstairs to change her uniform into something more comfortable.

Jeff was four steps ahead, at least: His skin had been cleaned, his clothes washed and weapons stored away once again, the money he had stolen was stashed away somewhere safe and he now wore a more casual combination of jeans and a grey t-shirt. Besides the grass in front of Nelly's home, which had been cut to a more acceptable height, there was no evidence that he had ever left the house during the morning.

"Hey there." Waved the killer as Nelly walked by.

She stopped to look at him. "Oh, hey... Did you cut the grass outside?" She seemed a little out of breath.

"Yup. Thought I may as well make something out of my free time. Like it?"

She nodded. "Yeah actually... Thanks." She seemed a little tired and went to her room. About a half an hour later, she went to look for him in the living room. She was wearing sweats and a black tank-top. Her hair was damp from the shower and pooled over her shoulder, no longer than the mid of her back.

Jeff was sprawled across the couch, holding a book on his hands. Although he was reading intently, completely immersed in the pages, he was fully aware of her presence, but couldn't be bothered to acknowledge it. After all, the story was just now getting good.

She didn't bother him and decided to go to the fireplace. She threw a few logs in before lighting a match and throwing it into the pile. It was going to be cold that night. It wasn't that she didn't have a regular heater, but she knew that the fireplace would be visually pleasing.

He hit the end of the chapter and decided to stop. May as well try to make some conversation. Otherwise, it would just be awkward, and he was still trying to make her feel comfortable around her,

"Most people don't actually use their fireplaces" He commented "Lots of work. Need a hand over there?"

"I got it..." She said, blowing into the fireplace to get it going. The flame finally engulfed the wood and started cracking and popping. She smiled at her success and turned to him. "See?" She stood straight again and slumped onto the couch. "So what have you been doing besides doing me the honor of cutting the grass?"

"I made some calls, trying to arrange my next move. I can't live with you forever, so I'm trying to find a more... fitting place for me. At least until I manage to get a permanent residence. I also have to get back a bunch of shit those dirt bags took from my old place, but that will come later..."

"Oh... Hope that works out." She said, sounding more undecided than anything else. She looked at him, careful not to stare. His features were really messed up. Poor guys couldn't even blink. "Don't they hurt?" She asked. "Your eyes?"

He smiled. "Like hell. I have my ways of dealing with them, but they constantly feel like they're on fire. You get used to it tough... Makes you stronger."

He chuckled a bit, rubbing his temples. "I'm sorry, I'm rambling now."

She stared at him for a bit before jumping off of the couch to her room. She came back seconds late with a tube of instant relief eye drops, handing it to him. "Maybe this will help..."

He stared at the tube briefly, before giving the girl a somewhat condescending smile and reaching into his pocket, pulling out a tube similar to the one she was holding.

"Apply them every three hours. Take an aspirin twice a day. Doesn't completely kill the pain, but it makes it bearable."

She felt stupid. Of course he would know how to take care of himself.

"Oh! Sorry, should have asked you first... " she said, putting the bottle aside and sitting next to him. She pulled her knees close to her chest.

"Hey, don't be sorry. It was nice from you to try" He patted her in the back.

Nelly jerked at the contact, she stared at him for a second before clearing her throat. "I.. I'm fine... Just tired."

She couldn't recall the last time anyone has touched her. Not that she'd let anyone, anyways. She disliked human contact. The sensation seemed almost foreign at this point. She hoped he didn't take it the wrong way, like that she feared him or found him repulsive.

Jeff pulled his hand away immediately. So, maybe trying to touch her had been a bad idea, too soon. She was bound to still be slightly freaked out by him, which he wasn't pleased with, but could understand.

"Alright. Maybe you should take a nap or something. Whatcha working as, anyways?"

"I'm a waitress." Said chuckling to herself. "It's not to fancy, but money is money." She stood, looking down the hall. "Maybe I should take a nap..."

"Man, witnessing must suck" He said, reaching for the remote and turning on the TV. "How do you deal with your client's bullshit? I'm not sure I could handle them for more than a couple of minutes."

"I like to think I'm better and smarter than rude people. So they don't really get to me." She said walking to her room. "I'll take a nap then. See you in a bit." She closed the door behind her.

**Three days later.**

Danella has been working at the small caffe for hours, and was finally glad she was off. Grabbing her jacket from the employee coat racket, Nelly left outside into the cold darkness, unlocking the bike from the gate she leaned it on.

She didn't notice him. No one ever noticed him unless he wanted them too. After all, he was good at his job. Still, this wasn't one of her usual targets, but the complete opposite: Remaining quiet and keeping his head low, he followed her from a far along distance, taking as many shortcuts through alleyways and such so she wouldn't always see him behind her.

She swung herself unto her bike, starting to ride on the street and then through the dark, dirt trail close to the forest. She didn't recognize him, obviously.

He didn't worry about staying too close, just keeping her within his field of vision. He could get ahead of her once they were near the house. It would appear as if he had never left.

After little, she noticed a tree on the middle of the dirt road and stopped. "Of course…" She sighed, getting off of her bike and trying to get around the large tree.

"Where you headin' Blondie?" Nelly froze, turning to the voice. The was a tall, bulky man, walking towards her. He seemed to stumble a little, seeming to be drunk.

"Why are you walking out alone? Don't you know it can be dangerous?" Nelly narrowed her eyes when he came closer. "Stay away." She said firmly.

Jeff stayed in hiding, but attempted to get closer to them without catching their eye. He didn't have to jump in just yet... But it was better to be prepared in case he had to. That way he could take him out before he tried anything funny.

The drunk man chuckled groggily, dropping the bottle of whiskey from his hand while approaching her closer than she would have preferred. She attempted to run for it, but he grabbed her wrist in time, jerking her back. "Let me go!" She struggled, but he didn't seem to like that. He pinned her hands to a tree, and held her mouth shut with the other. He reeked of alcohol and sweat."Shut the fuck up before I snap your neck, slut!" Nelly trashed in his hold.

Okay, that was more than enough. He really didn't want her to know he was following her, but wasn't about to let her get hurt, either. He pounced from the darkness, grabbing the drunk man by the shoulders and tossing him to the ground.

Before the man could even comprehend what just happened, Jeff immediately moved towards the fallen man and stomping on his stomach with moderate strength - not enough to cause any heavy damage, just to knock the wind out of him. After that, he crouched besides him, placing his hands over his mouth and nose to deprive him of air.

The man curled, trying to breath. He claw at Jeff's hands and struggled, but soon feeling lightheaded and weak.

Jeff didn't hold his grip for too long, just until the man started moving. He didn't mean to kill him, just to render him unconscious, allowing him and Nelly to get away.

The man went limp after a while. Nelly just stood there in stood their in shock, unsure what to say.

Jeff stood up, giving a light kick to the man to make sure he was completely unconscious before turning away from him and towards Nelly. "Are you alright?"

She still stared at him, processing the words. She was fine, right? Nothing broken. She gave a nod, but still seemed a little speechless.

He nodded. "Good. We should get going, then. It's a long way back to the house, right?"

She shook her head, and swallowed. "... It's.. Uh.. A mile away..." She said, her voice small. She started walking slowly, trying to shake off the thoughts of what just happened.

Jeff stayed besides Nelly, not taking his eyes of her. She looked genuinely shocked. What was he supposed to do? He was a good fighter, but not too agile with words. What could he say to make her feel better?

Awkwardly, he reached over and placed his hand on her shoulder. "Hey... Everything alright?"

Again, she jerked away at the contact, taking a step back. Her chest heaved like a rabbits heart, as if he scared the life out of her. When she then processed his intentions and her reaction, she frowned at him.

He pulled his hand away once again, as if he was afraid he may have hurt her by simply touching her.

"... I... I'm sorry.. " she ran her hand down her face in annoyance of herself, looking away. "... It's not you... It's just.. I'm not use to people being around me..."

Once again, he noticed: Overstepping his boundaries. "S'alright. Sorry. Should be more careful about that..."

"I'll... I'll just have to get use to it... " she said, continuing to walk. "Damn, I must seem pathetic..." She said under her breath.

He shrugged. "Not so much. Fighting isn't your strong suit. You were lucky to have me around this time. Could've gotten hurt otherwise..."

She buried her hand in her pockets, seeing the house close ahead. "So, why were you watching me?"

"Ah, that's... Complicated" He said, looking away briefly "I kinda need to know your... route, if that makes sense. You know, where you work and stuff, in case of an emergency. When dealing with someone I consider an ally, I usually just ask, but... Well, something tells me you would've kept quiet."

"We'll, I'm glad you were there.." She said, taking her key's from her pocket when they got to the door, opening it.

Later that night, Nelly had a hard time sleeping. After a series of tossing and turning with her sheets, she decided to finally get up and went into the living room. She sat on the couch, staring at the fire place.

She may had been silent, but Jeff wasn't exactly a heavy sleeper. As soon as Nelly walked near his room, he bolted out of bed, ready to either run or fight the incoming intruders, before realizing he was perfectly safe. Still, he was curious as to what had awoken him, and decided to investigate.

He found Nelly in the living room, sitting at the couch.

"Trouble sleeping?" He asked from the doorway.

She glanced over at him before looking back at the fire. She gave a nod.

He moved towards her, sitting by her side but making sure to keep a respectful distance away. "What's in your head?"

She shrugged. "Nothing.." She lied, of course. She didn't want him worrying about her.

"Come on. One doesn't walk out of bed at fucking three in the morning for nothin'" He said, staring at the fire with her "Is the guy back there still worrying you?"

"I couldn't sleep, that was all." She snapped a little.

He raised his hands defensively, deciding to let the topic go. She clearly didn't want to touch on it right now.

After she noticed how rude she probably just sounded, she the sat there for a couple minutes, and then looked down. "Thank you..."

He glanced over at her. "For what? I just did what I had to do. Told you: You're on my side now."

"I know, but still... " she looked at him, before carefully scooting over, closer to him. She the seemed a bit unsure, as if she were trying to remember information from a book she once read.

He realized she was scooting closer, but didn't really know how to react towards it. Should he move closer to her too? Would that freak her out? Should he just let her do as she wanted?

"Don't worry about it. We watch after each other, right?" He chuckled "I would expect you to do the same for me."

"Yeah... I guess I would." She looked at his hand, seeming to have an inner struggle with herself. She the finally seemed to stop hesitating and laid her hand on top of his. When was the last time she willingly touched anyone? She couldn't remember.

Although he noticed the contact, he did his best not to show any reaction to it. Still, he couldn't keep the sly smile from appearing on his face,

"Oh, you would. You have a lot of guts, you just don't know it yet."

She held it there for a bit, rubbing her thumb over the leathery feel of his pale white skin. She was obviously nervous though. After a bit, she let go, but didn't scoot away, and continued staring at the fire.

He was a bit disappointed when he felt her let go of his hand, but didn't say anything about it. Almost subconsciously, he leaned against her, letting out a long yawn.

She tensed a little when she felt him leaning against her, but didn't flinch or jerk away. She swallowed, able to hear her heart pounding in her ears and tried to keep her breathing regulated. Don'tpanicdon'tpanicdon'tpanic!

Although she didn't give any tangible signs of being perturbed, he could feel she wasn't completely comfortable about having him this close to her. Overcoming his sleepiness, he leaned forward, getting himself off of her. "I'm really fucking tired" He said, his voice slightly crooked "Let's just go to sleep, alright?"

A weight has been lifted off of her shoulders, literally, and she felt herself calming down. She looked at him and nodded, getting up. "Yeah, sleep sounds nice."

He stood up, looking back towards Nelly. "You sure you're okay? Don't need some company?"

Company? What did he mean by _company_? She stopped herself, making sure she heard him right. "Company?"

He shrugged. "Back when I was in... Er... 'Active Combat', we did this thing where one team member would stay up while the rest slept to make sure we wouldn't be caught off guard. Helped us catch a break, made us feel safe. I could always just keep you some company while you fall asleep."

"I don't want to keep you awake though... I though you were tired," She said, fumbling with her door handle.

"I'm good at staying awake" He said, waving a hand in front of his face "Besides, I don't have much to do tomorrow. I can always just sleep after hours."

She thought about it before opening her door, and waved him to come with her. Her room wasn't all that exciting. The walls were empty and everything seemed OCD clean. Nelly sat her bed, waiting for him.

He came in, briefly analyzing the room and trying to memorize any important details, before following her in and sitting at the foot of her bed. "You can just rest. Anything you need, I'll be here."

She looked at him carefully, before laying down, pulling the sheets with her. After watching him for a few brief moments, she closed her eyes. "... Jeff?"

"Yeah, Nelly?" Asked the killer, intently watching the room's entrance, like he had been trained to do.

"Thanks..." She said, cuddling into her pillow. "...for caring."

He chuckled quietly. "Don't worry about it. Same team, remember?".

She smiled slightly and nodded. She began drifting off into sleep.


	5. You scared me

**Hey guys! Thank you so much for the sweet reviews! I means a lot to me and keeps me going. ^^**

Nelly sat in her studio, chewing on a pencil and working on a thesis on her laptop. It's been 4 days since the incident on her way from work, and seems to have mentally healed by now. Jeff has been keeping her company, after all.

Jeff came walking up the stairs, looking for Nelly and feeling unexplainably... Nervous. What he was about to tell the girl were good news. And even if they weren't, why would he care? And yet...

"Hey, Nelly, got something you might wanna hear" Announced the killer, entering the studio.

Nelly took her glasses off, looking over at him. "Yeah? Go at it."

"I just got done talking to some partners over the phone" He said, scratching the back of his head "They know where the guys that raided me are keeping my shit and are willing to help me recover it. They also said they'd be willing to let me stay over until we get to it, so... I'll be leaving in a couple of days".

Nelly was taken aback. It took her a moment to precess the information. "... Oh."

She gathered her thoughts. He did what he had to do, right? She had no place to tell him what she wanted. It was going to be empty again, in this house.

"...I hope it works out for you.." Was all she could say before turning back to her laptop.

He looked at her for a second, expecting her to say something else before realizing that there was nothing else to be told. They would part ways, he would find his own place and leave her alone. That was the way things had been going until now, and nothing that had happened last week changed things, right?

"So... You're gonna be fine on your own, right?" He said, shoving his hands inside his pockets.

"... I'll be fine…" She said, feeling her heart heavy in her chest.

"I've always been fine…" She put her glasses back on, wanting to say so much more, but couldn't.

He shrugged, feeling slightly disappointed by her reaction, even if he didn't know what to explain. He started turning around, ready to go down the stairs and to his room again, but stopped to say one last thing:

"I'm... Not saying goodbye or anything, you know? I'll still need a hand from time to time. Besides, I'm still going to be here for about four day"

Nelly turned her face away from him, to the window. She could feel tears welling up, an refused to let him see. What the hell was wrong with her? She couldn't believe she was getting do worked up about this.

"Sure.." She said in a monotone, glad her voice didn't break.

He sighed, turning around and leaving the room. That had been way simpler than he had expected. If anything, he was glad she hadn't taken it so badly.

When she was sure he was gone, she wiped away the tears, and tried her best not to sob. She closed her laptop, standing up and pacing the room.

This was when it finally clicked.

He was literally the first person she felt comfortable with to this level. A _Killer_! Someone who was mentally insatiable and could kill her in an instant with effort or regret. How was this even possible? She was a genius in psychology, and not even she could explain what was going on in her head.

But if she liked him or not, she should have known better than to have him grow on her.

***2 days later***

His ribs hurt, his breathing was ragged, his face was covered in sweat - but he had to press on. The house was only half a mile away, and he refused to die while this close to his salvation. He wasn't too sure of what would happen once he got there, but anything was better than dying out there in the fields.

Finally, he arrived to his destination, barging into the door, his hoodie covered in blood from the chest down. Although he tried his best to call for help, the best he could manage was a chocking "Danella!" before collapsing to the ground, his legs too weak to sustain him any longer.

It a was silent for a moment, before he could hear rapid footsteps down the stairs. Danella stared at Jeff, and quickly bent down to him. "Oh god! Jeff!"

He couldn't muster much energy, only managing to pronounce some coherent words to shed a bit of light on his situation: "Stabbed... Below ribs... Help."

Nelly shuffled her eyes over him, unsure where to start. There was no time to think. She hooked both of her arms under his shoulders and pulled him towards the bathroom, slumping him onto the toilet to sit. "Hang in there", she breathed, before swinging the cabinetry open to grab a first aid kit.

Jeff let out some low groans of pain as he was dragged across the house, barely having the energy to avoid falling from the toilet seat. He wasn't too sure what was worse: The fact that he was dying, or that he was dying in front of someone else. "Sorry about your carpet..."

She couldn't care less for the god damn carpet! She quickly got out the materials she need, before looking at him. "Do you have a knife on you?"

He gave a light nod, reaching into his pocket and nudging the handle just enough so that it would fall to the floor. Oddly enough, the knife seemed clean.

She grabbed it, pulled the collar of his hoodie and dragged the knife down the material until it cut through the material completely. She stared at the mess his body was brought upon for not more than second. "You're going to bleed to death.." she breathed in a shutter. She grabbed a towel and pressed in against the wound before grabbing a hooked needle and medical ,plastic thread.

"Like hell I will..." Was the only reply. He had been through worse ones, most without help. Surely some petty stab wound caused by some low-life thug wouldn't be what brought down the infamous Jeff the Killer... Would it?

"Just... Just stay still..." She said, pulling the towel away and holding the thread. "I'm not a doctor, so bare with me please..."

"You're smart, you can do this" He muttered under his breath, doing his best not to tumble, sideways in order to allow the girl to proceed.

Nelly took deep breath before beginning to stitch him up. After the first stitch, she seemed to slightly get the hang on it, trying to move fast to not have him suffer to longer than he had to. At the end, she bit through the cord, and looked at her work.

The stitches weren't professionally done in the least at all and they hurt like hell, but at least they held him together - much more than he could ask for. Still, he wasn't feeling much better, still having lost a great quantity of blood. "Are you done?"

She nodded, still shuttering a bit from the anticipation. ".. It stopped bleeding..." She said before grabbing rubbing alcohol and dumped done of it onto a washcloth. "This may sting.." She warned before dabbing the wound.

He nodded back. A minor sting seemed almost stupid compared to the pain he was undergoing right now. "I need to lay down" He muttered "Not feeling too strong right now."

She looked at him worriedly and then nodded, making room and helping him to lay on the tile floor. "Don't fall asleep, okay?" She said, continuing to dabbing the wound gently, hovering over him. The ends of her hair brushed his stomach.

"You shouldn't worry so much" Reassured the man, staring straight at the ceiling. "I've been closer to death before, this ain't gonna be the end."

She gazed at him for a moment before continuing. She lifted his upper body slightly and leaned him onto the edge of the bathtub, grabbing the bandages from the kit and beginning the wrap them around his torso. "… don't scare me like that ever again…" she murmured.

"I'll try not too" He tried to force a smile out, but it just ended up looking awkward. "Can you bring me some water?"

She laid the cloth aside, pushing her hair behind her ear and giving a nod. she stood up and was away for about two minutes. She came back with a cold glass of water and bent down. She kneeled down by his head, and pulled him forward so he could rest his head in an upright position on her knees. She held the edge of the glass on his lips, letting him take slow sips. She didn't seem to mind the contact, since she was deadly afraid of his condition.

He gladly accepted the water. Although he usually wasn't okay with being taken care of, even he had to acknowledge that he was in no condition to move around right now. At least not until his blood came back up and his energies were replenished... Which should have been no trouble with Nelly's help.

"Thanks a lot" He said, once he was done drinking. "I know this must've been scary for you, but you still pulled through. Told you, you had guts."

"It's common sense." She corrected, putting the glass aside. She looked down on her face that was supported by her knees, and brushed away his blood crusted hair. "You need a bath…"

He let out a light-hearted, honest chuckle. "How about I get to it when I'm not dying? I don't exactly feel like getting myself in the shower right now..."

"..alright. I guess I can change your sheets tomorrow." She smiled. But it wasn't like her other, sarcastic smiles. It seemed warm, and relieved. She seemed really happy about that he was going to be okay. "Do you have enough energy for me to take you to bed?"

He nodded. "I don't think I have the energy to do anything else. Gimme a hand, help an old man get up".

She chuckled, pulling him up with here, trying not to grunt. She put his arm around her neck to support him. "Alright grandpa, lets go to bed."

He followed her along, doing his best to keep his head high through the way. The stairs were painful and sluggish, but they managed through, and it didn't take them much longer to reach his bedroom.

Nelly slumped him onto the bed, panting and sat on the edge, looking over at him tiredly. "…You alright?"

He remained quiet for a second, trying not to pass out: "I could ask you the same. I'm pretty heavy."

"I'm actually kinda dizzy…" she said, chuckling a little. "That was more physical action I had than the whole year all together..."

"You tell me about it" He smiled "... It's been a pretty long fucking day, huh?"

She took a deep breath, looking over at his shirtless (and now mutilated) upper body, and then back to his eyes. "… is there anything else I can do for you?"

He shrugged. "Not much that I can think of. I just need to recover some blood and then I'll be able to tend for myself. Until then, I should probably just focus on... You know... Not dying and stuff."

She nodded and then went to the door, stopping at the frame to look at him. "Just holler if you need me.."

He nodded. "Will do. Don't expect a lot of hollering. I think I'll be..." He was interrupted by a yawn "... Fine."

She gave a nod, before returning to her bed. She slumped down on it, staring at the ceiling before closing her eyes shut and mumbling to herself.

"That asshole better not die on me."


	6. You left

**So guys, get ready for some feels. Btw, reviews are always tolerated^^**

She groaned when the morning sun hit the side of her bed, forcing her awake. Ah, what the heck. She should go check on Jeff anyways to make sure he didn't pass away just yet.

His sleep had been heavy in the dead of the night, but the pain in his ribs had started to become a hindrance just a couple of hours ago. His painkillers had helped, but only managed to mitigate the bother, not to completely tune it out.

Nelly came back to his room, knocking before walking inside. "Morning…"

"Come in" Came his voice from inside.

She opened the door, stepping into the room. She smiled slightly. "Hey… how're you feeling?" She asked, sitting at the foot of the bed.

Jeff chuckled dryly."Like someone just opened me up, pulled out all of my organs and replaced them with cotton" He said with a smirk "Which is still better than I felt yesterday. How about you? Didn't get hurt lugging me up the stairs?"

"No, just a little sore." She stated, looking at his upper body to make sure the wound didn't bleed through the bandages.

"... Glad to see you're holding up. Must've been scary seeing me crash in like that."

"…I thought you were dead." She breathed, looking at him. "Mind to explain what happened?"

He sighed, thinking of a way to explain things and avoiding looking directly at Nelly. "I went to visit the friends I told you about yesterday, just to check if everything was clear for me crashing at their place... But they were having some issues. I had to help 'em get rid of some pests, but ended up getting separated in the process and... Well, yeah."

"... So, you're still going with them? When you're better I mean?" She asked, looking down at her hands planted on her lap.

"Maybe" He shrugged "They're kinda doing their own thing right now. Besides, I can't really leave here until I'm better, so... I guess I'm just gonna have to ruin your live during another week or so."

"I think I can put up with you." She said, standing up and coming closer to him. "May I see the bandages? Wanna make sure they didn't bleed through..."

He put his hands over his head, allowing her to examine her abdomen. "Go ahead, doc. Whatever you need, as long as I don't bleed to death."

She moved the blanket a little and touched the bandages lightly the check its tightness. "It seems to be alright... you'll survive."

"I always do" He smiled "Where did you learn to do these, anyways? I thought you were studying psychology, not plain old medicine."

"I took a medical class in high school..." She said, looking at his face. A small blush came across her cheeks when she noticed how close he was and took a step back. ".. It was... Uh.. Just an elective filler.

He laughed at her embarrassment. She was way too shy to be a doctor, but he was glad she at least knew the basics - he owned his life to that.

"You've got some skill to keep going under pressure like that. Couldn't have done it myself."

She rolled her eyes. "Oh you~" she, looking at the bloodstained bed. "We need to get you in the tub..."

He groaned loudly. "Do I have to get up? I still feel like someone shoved a cactus inside my stomach."

"Unless you want to lay in your own bodily fluids..." Nelly said, pulling up a chair to sit on.

She smiled in her success, and did the same process as yesterday, except they were heading upstairs. She slumped him on the toilet seat, panting, but not close as tired as she was yesterday. She then leaned over to the bathtub, and turned the warm water on.

He slumped down on the toilet seat, almost perfectly concealing the pain caused by having to hold his own weight. He felt slightly worried for Nelly, though. "You okay? You look like you just got done running a marathon."

"...You're.. heavy.." She breathed with a chuckle. She felt the water with her hands, deciding it was warm enough. She looked at him, her breathing regained. "...you think you can take it from here?"

He nodded. "Unless you wanna strip me, we don't have much of a choice, either - I have to take off the bandages too, right?"

She couldn't but feel her face heat up at his comment, but looked away to not seem like a prude. "..y-yeah, but you can manage, so I'll just.." She touched the door behind her, trying to touch the knob but failed awkwardly two or three times before managing to open it and slipped out of the room.

"Don't have a heart attack" he said as she closed the door, before he started undressing and got in the tub. Warm water. Felt nice.

He could stay here for a while.

Nelly leaned against the wall after she got out of the room. What the hell was wrong with her? Why was she so off guard all of the sudden? This didn't happen to someone as proficient as her, especially when it came to human nature. She took a deep breath, grabbing her face. "Keep it together, Nelly. Keep it together. " She mumbled to herself.

It took him about an hour to come out of the bathroom, partially due to the difficulties of having to wash without aggravating his cuts and bruises, but mostly because he just didn't want to leave. He climbed out of the shower, putting his clothes back on and opening the door before calling for Danella. "Hey, Nelly, I can kinda walk now, but I could use a hand."

Nelly was now sitting leaned against the wall. She didn't respond, her head leaned onto her shoulder. She looked like she fell asleep or something.

Had she really waited for him this whole time? He crouched in front of her, grabbing her by the shoulders and only slightly shaking her. "Hey. Wake up."

She jerked awake, as if caught of guard, staring at him. "W-what..?"

He smiled down at her. "Geez, you could've just gone to your room, I can always just shout of I need you. Tired?"

She blinked, remembering now. "I..I just wanted to make sure..." She then noticed his hands were on her shoulder, which she gently took off of her with both hands and stood up. "Are you okay though..?"

He tried to stand up, but was still slightly hunched over due to the pain on his lower abdomen.

"I can hold myself up." He announced "It isn't much, but at least I can stand up by myself."

"I'll help you to the living room if you want... then you can at least watch some TV." She said.

He nodded, offering his hand to help her stand up. "I wouldn't mind just resting for a while."

She refused it, using the wall to stand. Last thing wanted to do was put her weight up on him when he already has trouble walking. "Well, I'll have to change your sheets first... so, just hang out in here for a bit." She said, helping him into the living room.

He accepted her help, trying not to give her much trouble as she sat him down in the couch. "You work too much" Joked the killer "I can always change them later myself. Don't worry about it".

"I'm fine. You're on my good side too, remember?" She winked at him, before leaving to clean the mess in his room.

He smirked at her, a bit annoyed by the irony of his own phrase being used against him. He watched her leave, before reaching for the TV remote and turning it on, idly browsing channels to kill time.

After about twenty minutes she returned, sitting on the couch about a foot away from him. "You made quite a mess..." She chuckled.

He could do little but shrug: "Guess I should be sorry? I'm pretty sure I covered your entire house in red. You should pay me for the second layer of paint."

She laughed, pushing his shoulder lightly. "Pay you? I should beat the crap out of you for it!"

He raised his hands up in a defensive manner, willing to follow along with the joke. "Come on, haven't I had enough beatings for a while now?"

She shrugged, still chuckling a little. "Like I would even dare to lay a hand on a killer. I would know better."

He smiled. "Smart girl. Don't worry, though: Even if you did try, the damage would be so insignificant I probably wouldn't try to respond."

"Well, now you're just getting cocky." She smirked, snatching the remote from him, beginning to zap through the channels.

He didn't fight for the controller, not really caring about what was happening on the screen. Anyways, and more focused on the conversation with Nelly. "Gimme some credit: I did take on four guys without dying. That's something, right?"

"That's all sweet and pretty I suppose. But yet you have no idea what I may have in stock..." She said, eyes glued on the TV. "You judge me by how I look. Thats not smart on your part."

He scratched the back of his head, contemplating Nelly for a moment before talking. "Well, I know you're way smarter than me, but that's about it. Don't take it personal, but you don't look too strong or anything. Is there something I should know?"

She shrugged, shaking her head. "No, you're right. With my luck I would break my wrist attempting to hurt you." She stopped at animal planet and set the controller aside. "I'm just saying it in general. Judging how dangerous people are from their looks to get a general idea is alright, but you shouldn't ever be too sure. For all you know, I could have a black belt in some oriental art of combat." she looked over to him.

He shrugged, idly looking over at the television. "Yeah, I guess you're right. The best I can do is to be prepared for everything. And I am - almost."

His technique wasn't anywhere near perfect yet - a theory only confirmed by the painful reminder left on his lower torso.

"You've survived so far...and have killed so many. I am technically not even allow to talk shit just because of the fact that you made it this far." She yawned, leaning back. "Sorry, didn't mean to lecture you."

"It's alright" He laughed "Sometimes it's good for someone to drag your ass back to earth, you know? It's also good when that particular someone isn't a person you would beat the living shit out off, since it forces you to actually listen to them."

"Well, aren't I lucky." She looked over at him, staring at his shirt and the back at his face. "How's the wound?"

He shrugged. "Not bleeding, not infected, not ripping open - I'd say pretty okay. Should be better in a week or two, right?"

She shrugged. "I hope so." She zapped through the channels until she found Pulp Fiction on a channel and stopped to watch. "Oh, I love this movie!"

He arched an eyebrow. "I didn't think you'd have something for more... You know, violent movies."

She shrugged, watching the girl OD on the television screen. "I don't like the senseless gores Hollywood is producing at the moment. But I do like good classics"

"I guess. This was never really my thing." He relaxed, sliding down the couch a bit "After you've seen as much as I see, movies don't really do anything for you."

"I wouldn't wanna know..." She put the remote aside, looking over her window. It was a nice day. It was a shame he was hurt, so he was definitely bed ridden.

He followed her gaze towards the window. She looked like she could use some time outside, specially after all the hustle last night. Some fresh air would definitively help him.

"Wanna go for a walk? I could always lay down besides a tree or somethin'."

She blinked and then looked at him, shaking her head. "No... I don't want those stitches to tear..." She said, thinking. She clapped her hands together once. "I have an idea. How about I bring blankets, pillows and some snacks and we watch a movie?" She smiled at him, very fond of her own idea.

He grinned back at her, nodding as a sign of approval: "If it keeps you from going crazy, then yeah, that sounds cool."

She then ran off downstairs. It diet take her long to bring a bowl popcorn, a stack of movies, bankers and pillows. She laid out the blankets for the and handed him a pillow before slumping down next to him, looking at the stack.

"Okay, so… I have Breakfast at Tiffany's, the Wizard of Oz, The Shining and Of Mice and Men."

He looked down at the selection of movies, not really seeing much on them beyond what he knew would be a series of flashy colors and goofy actors. "What's your favorite?" Wondered the killer, knowing that none of them would necessarily appeal to him. If nothing else, Nelly should enjoy them.

"Hm... Of mice and men, I guess." She said. "It's a really good book, and the movie isn't bad ether..." She took the tape out of the cartridge.

He looked down at the selection of movies, not really seeing much on them beyond what he knew would be a series of flashy colors and goofy actors. "What's your favorite?" Wondered the killer, knowing that none of them would necessarily appeal to him. If nothing else, Nelly should enjoy them.

"Hm... Of mice and men, I guess." She said. "It's a really good book, and the movie isn't bad ether..." She took the tape out of the cartridge.

He nodded, getting comfortable in the couch and preparing for a couple of hours of doing nothing. But hey, at least it was better than having to move around.

Nelly stood up and shoved the tape into the device below the TV. She the grabbed the remote and sat next to him, turning the volume up and started rewinding the tape.

Jeff actually found himself enjoying the movie way more than he had anticipated. It was kind of slow for his liking, but the characters seemed okay and the plot wasn't terrible. It was the end, in which the main character shot his best friend, that kind of got him out of the experience.

"Well... That was dumb."

Nelly looked at him after the credits went down the screen. "What do you mean? He shot him so that Lennie didn't have to tortured for something he didn't mean to do." she defended the movie. How could anyone hate this movie?

Jeff arched an eyebrow at her. "Well, he had a gun. Shoot the guys trying to totter him. It's not rocket science: Aim and pull the trigger."

" He had a revolver. I'm not a gun expert, but those don't hold more than six bullets and there were at least 30 men trying to find them. Besides, as far as the movie suggested, if they would have left the process would have repeated itself. Lennie was brain damaged. One thing you sadly can't fix." She argued back.

He shrugged. "Then you don't fight at that exact moment. You run, gather what you can get and avoid trouble for as long as you can. He just sorta gave up on it all. I mean, yeah, Lennie was kinda fucked, but you oughta learn how to deal with it and move on."

She shrugged. "If I was mentally challenged and started killing people on accident, I hope someone would take my life."

He frowned at her. "Would you seriously rather die than to kill someone else?"

"If I was killing completely innocent people, without actual reasons and just killing them blindly, yes." She said, looking at him as if it was an obvious answer.

"Well, yeah, but what if your life depended on it?" Asked Jeff, clearly not completely understanding Nelly's point of view "Wouldn't you do it then?"

"To defend myself, yes. But if were were killing people at random, people who didn't deserve to die, by accident, no." She crossed her arms, solid to her point.

He frowned for a second, as if thinking about what to say. The movie was long over by now, the credits rolling through the screen as they usually did. "I wouldn't kill you. I would find a way to deal with it."

She looked over at him, not saying anything for a while. She felt that the tension has grew more solid at this opine. She thought for a moment, before she threw a piece of popcorn at his face, smirking. "What if I attacked you with popcorn? Would you deal with that?"

The popcorn bounced off his face, Jeff looking rather unimpressed. He caught it before it hit the mattress, flicking it back at Nelly. "Why, yes."

"Hm, really? Wonder how many it would take until you snap!" She said, grabbing into the popcorn bowl, throwing a whole handful at him.

He covered his face, making sure no popcorn or salt would enter his eyes. "Stop it" He said with a chuckle, reaching for the popcorn bowl and grabbing a handful before throwing it at her. He wasn't sure what was so funny about the situation: how ridiculous it was or how much Nelly seemed to be enjoying it.

She giggled like a school girl, attempting the avoid his popcorn attack by covering herself with the blanket. She gathered the stray popcorn, repeating the process. It was nice to let loose once. Not only relaxing from her immense studies and working at the cafe, but actually having fun, no matter how senseless the action was.

He grabbed handfuls of the popcorn gathered around the couch, grabbing one of the blanket's borders, lifting it up and throwing it all inside. "Stop wasting the popcorn!" He laughed, slamming the blanket down so she wouldn't be able to respond.

She squeaked when he threw the popcorn under the blanket, wriggling beneath it. "I'm all buttery now!" She the quickly lifted the blanket and slammed it on top of him, pinning him down and gave a little victory laugh.

He tried not to show any signs of pain at the sudden pressure over here, managing to only let out a small grunt that could've been confused with one of effort. It would've been easy to get her off of him, but he would be risking hurting her if he did so. He decided to just let her win this once. "You got me."

"Yes I did!" She said, letting of the pressure where his wound was. "I tell you what. I'll let you go, but only under one circumstance."

He opened his eyes wide, over-exaggerating an expression of surprise. "Oh? What would that be?"

Her overly happy expression fainted slightly. "Don't leave."

"Well, you aren't exactly letting me go then, are you?" He smiled "What do you mean by 'don't leave'?"

"Don't leave and go live with that gang or whatever. Or else this," She pointed at the wound beneath his shirt. "will happen more frequently."

The smile disappeared from his face, replaced by a more stern expression. This had gone sour rather quickly. "It's happened before, you know? Not as bad as you may think."

She narrowed her eyes, still hovering over him. "If it wasn't for me, you'd be dead."

"Nelly, it's going to get worse" He frowned "I'm not a normal person. You may be same from me, but there are a lot of people who... well, don't like me, get it? If I stay here, you may be in danger."

"I am a class A honer student. My record is squeaky clean. This would be the last place the police would look for." She said, stubborn on her opinion.

"Heh, police..." He smirked "You really have no idea. The cops are so bellow me it's not even fun to bait them anymore. There are worse... Things, Nelly. Things that really don't want me."

"Then take me with you." She said. She seemed not to be kidding ether.

He sighed. "You're not getting it. It's not where I am - danger comes to me. What worries me is that you'll get caught in the middle of it."

She stared down at him, thinking of words to say to change his mind. "...I have nothing to loose."

"Yes, of course you do" Jeff replied with a slight hint of disappointment in his voice "You have a job and a degree in the making. You can't afford to loose that."

She stared down at him, feeling herself getting upset.

"I can't afford to loose the only person I can actually tolerate to be around me!" She said, louder this time. Her facial expression tightened slightly with disapproval.

He looked straight at her, before he sighed and rubbed his temples.

"Okay, I'm gonna tell you something I never tell anyone" He grabbed her by the shoulders, very carefully pushing her off of him "You need to calm the fuck down."

She stared at him, as if he deeply upset her. "Calm down..?" She repeated slowly. Her brows furrowed, and eyes narrowed. "How dare you have the audacity to come into my life, make me actually CARE for you, and then just decide to leave?" Her voice was hoarse and calm at the same time.

"That wasn't my choice" He said as he sat up, his voice growing angrier by the second "You know who I am and what I do, you shouldn't like me anyways. Specially when you knew I wasn't going to stay."

He was right. She was aware that he was only crashing here for a small while. She shouldn't be beating herself up about it. But yet... "... You're right. I shouldn't. But it wasn't my choice ether, you know." She looked up at him, chuckling once in a mix of sarcasm and hurt. "But now that you pretty much pointed out that this has been a one sided thing all along, I guess I won't feel as bad."

"Well, maybe that's for the best" His voice sounded bitter, slightly hurt "Friends aren't something I can afford, Nelly. I'd like to tell you will understand in time, but I really hope you won't have to. Just trust me: You don't wanna stick too close to me."

She glared back at him, and stood in front of him. "..Like you'd know what I want!" She hissed.

Well, he has never seen this side of her. It was different from her usual cool and down to earth behavior.

"I know you don't want to die." He glared at her, staring her down.

"I can fend for myself!" She defended, and obviously did not intimidated by him.

He snickered, finding the situation bitterly humorous. "Oh, please. You couldn't even face me, how could you even stand a chance against everything trying to kill me?"

Her face twisted in anger. He was laughing at her. How dare he make fun of her after all she has done?

Without thinking she placed her hands on his chest, and pushed him. Considering she was pretty weak compared to him, he wasn't forced back not more than one or two steps.

His face turned from one of mockery into a mask of anger. He grabbed a hold of her wrist, gripping it tightly, almost to the point of crushing it but not quite putting in the extra force necessary for it. "Never do that again!" Was all he said, staring at her dead in the eye.

She drew in a sharp breath at the pain, trying to not let it mask her anger. Tears formed in her eyes while she still glared up at him, refusing to show any fear. "Fuck you!" She spat right back.

He was mad at this point: Was she seriously trying to defy him, in spite of her situation? To prove that she was somehow superior to him? She was nothing but a spoiled brat. He should've just broken her arm on the spot, but it was then that the words resounded in his

head once again -

_We're on the same side_

God damn it, she wasn't worth it.

He tossed her aside, intending to make his way out of the room.

After being tossed to the floor, she whipped her head around, watching him leave. All anger was lost from her expression, the tears now flowing freely down her face. It had no use running after him. What was the point? He didn't feel the same for her. What was wrong with her? She looked away, pulling her knees to her chest, sobbing quietly so he couldn't hear. Shit.

It was just to good to be true.


	7. You returned

**Sorry for the long wait guys. Life happened -o-**

Having left earlier, Jeff was more than surprise to find that his friends were actually happy to receive him so unexpectedly. They were understanding of his situation and did their best to make him feel at home, bet Jeff never quite managed to feel right. He kept coming back to Nelly's place, watching her from afar, where she couldn't see him.

'It's only until I'm sure she's safe', he kept telling himself... Yeah, right.

He was worried about her. He kept re-playing the situation in his head, trying to figure out what he had done wrong - he thought it was simple. He left. They parted ways, maybe talked to each other every once in a while, simple as that. What had he done wrong?

Nelly stayed home and took off of work for a few days after he left, to recover. After that, her normal routine of studying and working her job at the restaurant picked back up. She even got a new car at that point. Everything was back to normal, so it seemed. And so she tried. But sometimes she would sit by the fire in the middle of the night, staring at it and replaying the memories of her holding his hand on that same spot. She only person she has ever even been comfortable with touching. A killer. A freak. Something she felt like she belonged to. She didn't want to think about it. At least not anymore.

One evening, she sat on her front porch with a book and a cup of tea. The weather has gotten warmer, so she decided to take her studies out there. She studied more than she did already, in attempt to get her mind off of other things.

Jeff was watching. It was nice to finally get a clear look at her, seeing how the only time he only got to see her was when she arrived home from work. She seemed almost... Calm. Happy.

Perhaps he should leave.

He stood from his hiding spot, far away from the house, and set the binoculars aside. She was going to be fine. There was no reason for him to stay there anymore.

It was then that something caught his eyes. A humanoid figure began moving towards Nelly's porch. It was covered by a hood and a ski-mask concealed it's face. Nothing good could come from that.

Moving quickly, but attempting not to catch their attention, Jeff started walking towards the house.

Nelly was deep within her studies, scribbling down notes next to the book on scratch paper. She was such a hard worker, it wasn't even funny. She didn't even notice tithe figure approaching.

As the creature approached, it removed it's mask, revealing it's face: A man, seemingly unremarkable if it weren't for his lack of eyes, which were instead replaced by two black voids. Jeff could see this, even from far away, and immediately recognized the creature for what it was. He had to warn Nelly, and he had to do it soon.

"Danella!" Came a scream from the distance "Get in the house!"

Nelly lifted her head at the familiar voice before staring in shock at the mutilated figure. She stood quickly, her books and notes falling on the old wood of the porch, she backed up staring at him. She felt like she almost couldn't move. "..."

Yeah, he should've expected that. The void tended to have that effect on people.

He drew his gun, running towards them as quickly as he could. He couldn't get a clear shot from here, but if he managed to get a little bit closer...

"Nelly, move your ass into the house!" He yelled again, hoping the loud noise would be enough to snap her out of it.

She flinched at his voice, looking at Jeff in the distance before rushing to her door. Why was he here? Why the hell was that THING here?!

The creature followed closely behind her, but didn't have much time to move, a gunshot to the chest stopping it dead on it's tracks. It didn't topple over, instead turning to face Jeff as another couple of shots hit it's abdomen, a final, well-aimed bullet hitting it straight in the head, making the back of his skull explode in a sea of black.

Finally, with a low hiss, the creature fell to the ground, dead.

She leaned against the door, staring at the horror in front of her. A few splatters of the black liquid hit her face, but that seemed to be the least of her worries. Speechlessly, she looked over at Jeff, saying nothing.

Jeff stared at the body briefly, making sure it didn't get back up again, before putting the revolver down and expelling the bullet cases out and replacing them with new ones. He put the weapon away, turning to face Nelly.

"You've got a little something..." He scratched the area around his cheek, pointing where she had been stained with the black blood.

She stared at him a few more moments, until his words echoed in her head long enough to understand. She touched her face and looked at the black fluid on her fingers. She then took her sleeve, wiping it from her face, before looking back at him. She was unsure of what to say. Or if she should say anything in the first place. The biggest question floating around in her mind was why he came back.

They just awkwardly looked at each other for a minute before Jeff broke the silence: "I told you: Same team. Not gonna let anyone hurt you" He took a brief glance back at the body "Don't worry about that, they always dissapear... Mind if I come in?"

She still stared at him, but now with slight suspicion. She didn't say anything still, but opened the door for him.

He moved forward, nodding in her general direction before stepping into the house and going towards the dinner. This was going to be a complicated topic.

She closed the behind her, watching him carefully before walking towards the kitchen, indicating he should follow her. She sat at the table, pushing the chair in front of her with her foot under the table, for him to sit on. She hasn't said a word so far.

He obeyed, sitting right in front of her. There was a moment of silence, with the killer idly looking at the table as he thought of what to say. His mind was flooded with ideas, but he guessed clearing the air between them was a priority.

"I'm sorry" He said, finally turning to look at her. "Not something I say to everyone, so remember that: I'm sorry for what's happened."

She just looked at him. It was hard to tell how she felt, since her face wasn't showing much of any expression. "For what? That you walked out of me? Or this," she pulled down the sleeve of her sweater, revealing a badly bruised wrist. It looked like it got caught in a heavy door, thick bracelet of dark violet.

He sighed deeply, rubbing his temples. This was going to be way more complicated than he had first thought.

"I guess I should be sorry for those, but my biggest regret is that neither of those did anything to prevent what just happened."

He stopped for a minute, staring out the windows as if the answers were all out there.

"Apparently, someone already knows I was here, and tried to use you to get to me. You're lucky I was expecting that, else... Well, things would've gotten a lot uglier."

"So more are to come..." She concluded, covering her bruise again. At least he apologized.

He nodded. "I didn't want to do this to you. I was hoping I could prevent it by leaving early, but I guess I got too comfortable and stayed for too long. Now, I need to figure out a way to get you to safety."

She watched him for a few long seconds, before standing. "I'll pack my things..." She said , before walking out of the room.

He nodded. "I know some people that can take care of you. You'll be safe with them. Take whatever you need, I'm not sure we can go back to take the rest of your stuff."

She came back down with two suitcases. The larger one with all of her studies and the smaller one for clothes and other personal items. She opened the door, dragging suitcases along with her to he car. "You're coming with me, right?"

He nodded. "I usually don't say with them, but I work with them a lot. A lot of them are old friends of mine, so you can trust them plentifully. That way, you're safe and I can visit you often. Does that sound good?"

She lifted her things into the trunk, panting a little from the weight and closing trunk with a slam. She looked over at him and then her car. She didn't like anyone. Not anyone besides him, really. She wasn't sure how she was going react to a house full of strangers. "..I guess." She was nervous.

He arched an eyebrow. "You don't seem to happy about it. Something wrong?"

[6

She shrugged. "... Are you sure these friends of your are okay with me crashing at their place? They don't even know me." She tossed him the car keys and got in on the passenger side.

[

"Not quite. They could use your help, tho" He opened the door, getting on the driver's seat and putting the keys on ignition "You're a smart gall, and they got a business to run. I know it's not much, but I arranged what I could..."

She gave a nod, pulling the hood of her jacket over her head before buckling up.

During the drive, she stared out of the window. It looked like rain was coming on. "Thanks.." She started, not bothering to look at him. "..for coming back." It was hard for her to admit, but she was so overly glad he came back to her. She tried to mask her excitement and blithe though.

He stayed quite for a moment, not quite knowing how to reply. He was expecting her to hate him, to loathe him for ruining her life. And yet, she seemed completely fine with having him back with her. How was he supposed to feel about that?

"... Thanks for not hating me" was all he could muster "I just wanted to keep you safe."

"... I couldn't hate you if I tried." she murmured, looking down at her hands. She spoke the complete truth. When he was gone, it felt like her heart shattered. She had never mourned and longed for anyone of anything more than him. God, it hurt. She thought she has lost him. She felt tears stinging in her eyes. Oh god, not in front of him! Damn these emotions! The last thing she wanted him to see was her in a weak position, like crying. She sadly wasn't able to hold back the few tears the dropped on her lap, hating herself for it.

He did a double take when glancing and Nelly, pulling the car over so his hands weren't busy. Oh, shit, was she crying? Why was she crying? How did he get her to stop? Oh, fuck, why did people have to be so complicated?

"Hey, hey, don't cry" He said, too nervous to think of anything else "I'm trying to keep you happy. I came back. I'm getting you to a safe place. Isn't that what you wanted? What am I supposed to do?"

"N-nothing..I-I'm fine..." She lied, wiping her face, but the tears didn't seem to stop. Everything has just built up on her for the past couple of weeks since he's was gone, and it was all seeming to flow over now.

He reached over, instinctively reaching for a hug, before remembering her previous reaction to having him touch her. Instead, he recoiled a beat, awkwardly looking at her from his side of the car. "Come on. What did I do wrong?"

When she saw a hug coming, she quickly reached over the seat in her own emotional instinct, craving his contact, and wrapped her arm around his torso. She leaned her face where his shoulder met his neck, quivering slightly. Her body hick-up slightly, with quiet sobs she couldn't hold back. She didn't say anything though.

He didn't know how to respond quite impressed she would actually hug him back. Unsure of what to say, he just hugged her back, wrapping his arms around her and hugging her tightly, holding her as close to him as possible.

She has deprived herself for human contact for so long, she forget how healing it was in some situations. This was a big step for her. "...I..I'm sorry... I've never felt that lonely in my life before you left.." She mumbled, tears soaking his shirt. "..and I've been alone emotionally all my life..." She tried not to sob. "...I don't don't hate you... but I hate how fucking attached I have become to you... I can't even think straight..." It was literally all coming out at that moment, no hesitation or second thought.

He couldn't help but smile. It was tragically beautiful, really. He just wished it didn't make him feel so damn pleased with himself. "I know how it feels. Other people suck. But what can we do? Sometimes you just can't help yourself..." He was speaking from experience. Life would've been much easier weren't people constantly getting in the way. "... I'm not gonna leave you. Ever. I promise."

She let him go slightly, only enough to be able to face him. She didn't care if he saw her like this, in her emotional breakdown. Her tear stung eyes made the green of her eyes stand out more than usual. She smiled a little, still few tears crossing her freckled cheeks. "..Thank you..." her voice was a little hoarse.

He smiled, trying his best not to look menacing. He was blatantly lying and knew it, but would do anything it took to keep Nelly happy in that moment. And if that's what it took, he could deal with it.

"Want me to take a detour?" Was his only question "If you aren't ready to meet my mates, we could always just stay at a hotel or something for a while."

She thought about it, giving a slight nod. "..I saved up a bit... a hotel does sound nice.."

He chuckled. "It's on me. I can afford a room, you don't have to worry about that."

She looked at him a couple more seconds, before hugging him tightly once more before retreating in her seat as if nothing happened. "... Thank you..."


	8. You made me smile

**Thank you for all support guys! I might drive this into a romantic direction, but let me know what you think! 3**

He stared blankly at her for a second, not quite sure about how to proceed, before nodding and putting his hands back on the wheel, getting back on the road and making his way to a relatively nice motel in the outskirts of town. "Stayed here a couple of times before, when I couldn't sleep at home. Nice place, I think you'll like it."

He reached into his backpack, scrambling to grab some loose cash before handing it over to Nelly. "It should be enough for a night, but we can stay longer if you want. You're gonna have to pay for me, since I can't really talk to the lady at the counter."

She gave a nod, took the money and got out of the car. She grabbed the smaller suitcase from the trunk and proceeded inside. She paid upfront and took the keys for their room, nodding over Jeff to follow her.

He nodded, parking the car as close to the entrance as he could before following Nelly along, making sure to keep his head down while crossing through the lobby, quickly moving towards their room.

She opened the door to their room, leaving it open for Jeff. She looked around, quite impressed. "This is pretty nice for a motel..."

He entered the room: It was fairly nice. A TV set over a drawer, two beds divided by a nightstand, a small desk for writing and, of course, it's own bathroom. "Yeah. It's more expensive than normal motels, but it's pretty good. Don't come here nearly as often as I should." He threw his backpack into the closet, flopping over the bed as in complete exhaustion.

She still walked around, examining the room and bathroom with curiosity. It was all very clean.

"You like it?" He asked, still sprawled across the bed "I know it's not your home, but it's the best I could think of."

"I like it a lot." She said, deciding to sit on her bed, bouncing on it a bit to test it's softness. "I've never been in a stay-in before..."

He raised his head, a bit surprised by her reply. "Really? Why not? Don't travel a lot?"

"Only traveling I've done was from Seattle to here. My family was never the vacation type ether... My parents were mostly on business trips and barely home when I was a kid. They never saw a need for vacation trips since they've always went around the world when they were working." She said, kicking off her shoes.

"Huh..." Was all he could muster. He just now realized how little he knew about her past. It was actually nice, getting to know her a bit better. It helped him understand her some more.

"Well, there's nothing really keeping you here now, and you should be earning some bucks when working with my friends. I'm sure you'll get your chances to travel around, see the world and stuff."

She thought about it, nodding. That would be nice. "Yeah, I think I'd like that..." She looked put of the window. It was pouring rain at this point.

He smiled. "You're gonna like 'em, you know? They're kinda hard to deal with, but pretty cool once you get to know them."

"I hope so..." She said, standing up and walking to the window, trying to get a view. The rain was too thick though to see most anything. She seemed at ease since they've had that talk in the car, too be honest, she hasn't seemed this relaxed since he met her.

He sat up, shifting on the bed so that he would be sitting behind her. "Like the rain?"

"I like watching it, but not being in it." She said, touching the glass. " Helps me sleep.."

"I didn't know you had trouble sleeping." He stood up, standing besides her.

"You never asked.." She said, looking over at him.

"Well, yeah, but..." He scratched the back of his head "I don't know, it didn't seem very evident. Anything else I don't know about you?"

"um...I'm allergic to peanuts." She chuckled, smiling at him.

"That's actually kinda surprising" He chuckled. "I'll try to remember that. Wouldn't want to save you just to kill you with a candy or somethin'."

She thought about other things that might be important. "I use to have panic attacks as a child, but I haven't had one for years... Don't think there's much more... Or at least anything I could think of." She said, before sitting next to him.

He tried to keep a respectful distance from her, still not quite sure where her boundaries were. "What caused the panic attacks?"

"I was claustrophobic... Well, I still am but I don't freak out about it the way I used to." She looked over to him. "What about you? Any weaknesses I should know about?"

"I was claustrophobic... Well, I still am but I don't freak out about it the way I used to." She looked over to him. "What about you? Any weaknesses I should know about?"

He thought about that for a second. Weaknesses? That was an odd way to put it. He felt reluctant to share anything with her, but then again... She had been so open to him before... Ah, damn it, what was the worse that could happen?

"I don't think I have any weaknesses. I'm kinda afraid of fire. It's not easy to describe, but I don't like being too close to it. That's about it, though. No big phobias or horrible fears."

She could understand why he wouldn't like fire. She didn't want to point that out though, since it was obvious to him. She thought for a moment, for more topics, but nothing seemed to ring in her mind. "...What now?" She asked, bouncing on the bed a little in her seated position.

He laid down, his legs still hanging off of the bed. He would've been perfectly fine with just covering his eyes and taking a long, long nap. He didn't think she understood how long he'd been watching her for - and quite frankly, he didn't really want her to think about it. Still, there was still a question that bothered him. Something he didn't quite know how to phrase, but yet, had to know.

"Why do you... You know, like me?" Was all he could manage "I mean, I don't usually meet many people outside of my line of work, and I'm not a nice person as it is. So why?"

She let the words set in. It was easy to say she liked him, but why? That was a harder question. Besides that, it was hard to describe, because she hasn't really "liked" many people in her life. "... You're not fake, like most people... You're straight up, and don't sugar coat things... I appreciate that in people. I feel like I can talk to you about anything, and that you wouldn't judge me... You've also saved me twice, so that's an upside..." She thought deeper, looking down at her lap. "...I also feel happy when I'm near you. But, it's not only happiness...it's more... a feeling I find really don't know how to describe... " Her facial expression looked perplexed.

He was a bit shocked by hearing that, but somewhat glad, too. It was nice to know that she genuinely liked him. A relief, really. He wasn't sure about how her opinion on him would've changed after everything that had happened, but it seemed like things were still okay between them. And that was all that mattered.

"Don't worry, I understand" He smiled "I think I feel the same way."

She looked at him, a faint smile crossing her face. "Do you really? Please let me in on it then, because I don't understand myself when I'm around you, to be honest.."

He shrugged. "I don't understand, either, but shit's complicated. I know there's a lot of things I'm never going to fully understand, and I guess that's okay. I'm fine with it."

The smile didn't leave her face. "I guess were both confused then. I can live with that." She the stopped herself, her smile fainted. She stared at the window. "What that over there?" Her eyes narrowed.

He was quick on his feet, bolting up from bed and standing by her side in just a second. "What? Where?"

There was nothing there, but the next thing he felt was a pillow being slammed on the back of his head. She just looked at him with an innocent smile, holding the pillow behind her back.

He was pushed forward by the pillow, turning to face Nelly with a look of confusion. He stared at her blankly for a couple of seconds before smiling, grabbing her by the shoulders and pushing her towards the bed.

She laughed when her pushed her down, smacking the pillow into his face again. "Taste my fury!"

He grabbed another pillow, raising it over his head and slamming away at her, laughing with joy as he did so.

Nelly quickly grabbed to her side to grab another pillow, slamming two at the same time. "Ha! I outrank you!"

He was slightly stunned by the pillows slamming on the side of his head, but he recovered quickly, grabbing his pillow and holding it over the girls face. "Don't think so darlin'!'"

She giggled, holding the two pillows in front of her in a defensive manner. "You can't beat me in a pillow fight! I am the pillownator!" She claimed, giggling between her breaths.

"Then how 'bout we take them out of the equation?" He grabbed a hold of the pillows, snatching them out of her hands, tossing them aside and pinning her down by the shoulders. He tried not to weigh down on her too much, in order not to hurt her.

"Ooouuh, I'm so scared!" She mocked him, waving her hands in front of her face in fake fear.

He arched an eyebrow. "Seriously? Not afraid of the big, bad killer?"

She looked up at him, still smiling but with a 'you can't be serious' look on her face. "Really? Like what could you possibly do to me?" She grinned, still mocking him.

"You never know" He joked, of course "As far as you know, I'm crazy. Who knows how dangerous I could be."

He thought about that for a second. Of course he wasn't going to hurt her, not after all of the effort he had put into keeping her alive, but it would've been pretty damn embarrassing to just admit defeat in front of her. Instead, he let go off her shoulders, allowing himself to just collapse on top of her, her face buried in his chest.

"Well, this is comfortable."

"Mmmpffmmpf!" Her words were completely muffled. She was surprised by his reaction though. Not that she thought he was going to hurt her, or anything. She still tried forming words of protest, trying to flip him over, which didn't seem to quite work out for her.

"I'm sorry, what is it I'm hearing?" Asked the killer, resisting to being flipped over "Is that 'Jeff is the best, everyone else is just trash'? Is that right?"

With enough struggle, she at least managed to push her head past her shoulders, drawing in a deep breath. "You're depriving me from air you ass!" She protested, reaching for a pillow and slammed it against his face.

He finally gave out, deciding he had messed with the girl enough and flipping over to lay next to her instead. "Alright, you win."

She sat up, glaring at him from her spot. She threw the pillow at him and pouted. "You almost killed me you big meanie!"

He couldn't help but laugh a bit. "Oh, come on, I did not. Believe me, I know."

"I'll get you back!" She said, reaching for the remote on the nightstand and switched on the TV. "You just wait." She smirked.

"Of course you will" He joked "You totally look like you'd be capable of crushing me."

She shrugged, her eyes fixed on the TV. She chuckled to herself when she plotted her revenge on him in her head.

"We're gonna have to teach you how to defend yourself, one of these days..."

"Teach me how defend myself?" She repeated, chuckling after. "Yeah, good luck with that." She has taken physical education classes when she was younger, but soon realized that it wasn't 'her thing', so to say. She already had a high metabolism in the first place, so she never really had to worry about her weight or even concider sports or martial art classes.

He nudged at her with his shoulder. "This is a serious issue. I need you to realize what's going on right now: At some point from now on, you're gonna have to fight, and kicking and biting won't be enough."

She looked over at him after being nudged. "If you want to teach me, sure, give it a go. But don't complain later on when you notice how pathetic I actually am."

"Any level of pathetic is better than not doing anything at all. Still, you may wanna wait up to have some of my friends teach you. I'm not an easy-going teacher."

"I don't want some stranger to teach me though... if anyone, I would want it to be you." She said, looking back at the TV.

"Are you sure?" He sounded really serious, as if the option could be a danger to the girl "I'm really strict with what I do. I'm not sure you could keep up."

She looked at him. Was he trying to scare her? She thought about it for another moment before nodding. It's not like he was going to kill her or anything.

"... Alright then." He turned to look at the TV "Does tomorrow morning sound good?"

She gave another nod, zapping through the channels. She decided not to let the idea of training tomorrow bother her too much.

It was silent for a while, and she just continued zapping through the channels. She glance over at him, thinking. "… so, did you ever have a girlfriend?"


End file.
